By: Caelyn Hippen
The Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner that sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. It was the biggest ship of it’s time. The Titanic disaster killed over 1,500 people after the ship was hit by an iceberg in the North Atlantic, approximately 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada.
The Titanic was considered unsinkable. It was the largest of its time; it was 882 ft long and was 52,000 tons (and still considered very large now compared to modern ships). It carried 2,200 people and cost 7.5 million dollars to build, which is the value of $217,382,474.23 today.
When and why it sank:
Timeline –
9:40: The Titanic received a message that there were icebergs in the area. But that message never reached the bridge/captain.
The Titanic then hit the iceberg at 11:40 (spotted at 11:39 and tried to avoid it by turning.) It took about 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink.
It wasn’t until 12:30 that lifeboats were lowered. The lifeboats were their own separate issue. The life boats could only carry 1,178 people (if they were full), but the lifeboats were launched below capacity because the crewmen were worried that the davits (thing that lowers the boat into the water) couldn’t hold a full boat. The water was so cold that night (32 degrees) that people perished after 15 minutes. (People couldn’t survive without being in a lifeboat)
And finally, at 2:17, the Titanic broke in two, and by 2:24, the Titanic was under the water’s surface.
Conclusion:
After 3 hours, the Carpathia (a ship that had received a distress call from the Titanic), reached the site of where the Titanic sank and rescued 706 survivors. After this disaster, ships were required to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board, and an international ice patrol was established. These are some reasons how the Titanic was very significant in history
You can look at the source above for the picture and more information!
Plaid Line 